Food!

I know that Auntie Jan reads this, and after our talk before I left I gathered that she might just be a foodie like me. We have had some FANTASTIC food out here in Ohio. I try to document what I can, but I also try to avoid being that person that always has to photograph her meals. Not that I really care if people think I'm weird out here, I just tell them that I'm from southern California and that seems to clear it right up.

This is my absolute favorite veggie burger EVER. It's found in a place called Northstar in Short North (north of downtown Columbus in the hip area). As soon as I bought my plane tickets I started to crave this burger. It's basically just a blend of rice, beans, beets (hence the color) and spices. Instead of lettuce they give you spring greens!

For our anniversary we went to a little town called Yellow Springs (about an hour and a half away from Monte's mom's house) and the B and B we stayed at recommended a restaurant called The Winds Cafe. I had the three course meal deal . . . starting with black bean chili with white cheddar, Spanish tomatoes and sour cream, then ratatouille filled crepes (shown) with olive and goat cheese garnish sitting in a pool of olive oil and tomato sauce, and finally, brace yourself for this one, goat cheese ice cream with brazed cherries from the local famous ice cream company "Jeni's". They almost had to roll me out the door.

This was from tonight (Thursday). That goat cheese ice cream was so good that we decided to try the actual Jenis (yes, just like Jenny's) ice cream eateries. Apparently it's wildly famous here . . . every time we walked by the line was insane. I tried three different scoops with interesting names . . . going clockwise and starting from the top left we have Thai Chili, Salted Carmel and Stout. They were all really good. Monte got a rootbeer flout with Belgium Milk Chocolate and I have to say that it might have been my favorite. Except for the goat cheese ice cream with the brazed cherries, that was exceptional.

Other exceptional foods that I've had, but didn't photograph include all the food that Monte's mom made for the picnic, an extra fancy dinner of swordfish, crab cakes and the best tropical drink I've ever tasted, and others that I just can't remember.